Three tons of gold bars, nuggets, bullion and rare coins from the California goldfields were lost in 1857, when the steamship Central America sank in a hurricane off the Carolinas. Now this lost treasure, confirmed 18 months ago and worth up to $1 billion today, is in the eye of another hurricane, this time in a Norfolk, Va., courtroom.
Finders keepers, says the Columbus-America Discovery Group, which won exclusive salvage rights in federal court last year through the arcane principle of "tele-possession" because its unmanned robot, equipped with cameras and mechanical arms, can operate in waters too deep for divers. But...
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